Posted
by
timothy
on Thursday December 01, 2011 @02:17PM
from the when-you-want-to-control-the-vertical-and-horizontal dept.

New submitter Juggler00 writes "I have been running DD-WRT (v24-sp2) on my Linksys WRT54GS for a couple of years now. I'm now finding that the box cannot keep up with the requests/requirements I have for it--it simply does not have the MIPS/horsepower. I am turning to the collective wisdom of the Slashdot community for 2 things: what alternative firmware should I be using (DD-WRT, Tomato, OpenWRT, or something else?) and based on the answer to this question, what is the suggested router to purchase to flash? My software requirements include DynDNS client, DHCP server providing option 66, static IP assignment based on MAC, port forwarding, and basic QoS (bittorrent lowest priority). For hardware, I'm looking for GigE ports and 802.11N (5.8GHz not a requirement)."

You can make jokes about how bad the movies are, but you can't make jokes requiring deep knowledge of the movies themselves. Making in-jokes requiring deep knowledge of a movie is only done when you can rightfully assume the crowd you're talking to is a fan of the movie, and has seen it many times and would be very familiar with it. So in this forum, a joke involving the lines "You will never find a greater hive of scum and villainy", or "Game over man! Game over!" should go over well, because it's probab

Strange that I've modded so many posts and yet never heard of this rule. I'll be sure to take your recommendations under consideration. Would you mind writing a memo to all mods regarding this new joke-making process? Be sure to cc the rest of Slashdot.

It's not a rule, it's common sense. Think about it: if I made a joke about some obscure line in Battlefield: Earth, would you get the joke? Would anyone here get the joke? Probably not. It's universally reviled as a horrible movie (except by Scientologists, who swear it's the best movie ever made), with one of the lowest ratings on IMDB. The only time it comes up in jokes on Slashdot is when people make fun of it for being a horrible movie, but you never see anyone quote lines from it, probably because

So, if I'm following you correctly, because you think the movies were bad, that means that no jokes requiring knowledge of them should ever be made, on the assumption that because you dislike them, nobody else liked them either, and thus nobody is familiar with them?

The Prequels, for whatever opinions you may hold of their quality, SOLD TICKETS. They are among the highest grossing films of all time. Hell, Episode 1 and Episode 3 (the one which the joke in question references) both outgrossed the originals.

Eh, I really don't get the prequel bashing thing. Were the originals truly all that, in comparison? I was in in high school when the original Star Wars came out, and have a sentimental attachment to it, but in retrospect, those movies are old now and their flaws more obvious.
Have you watched the original three lately? They're not much better in comparison - except maybe episode IV. "Return of the Jedi" should have been named "Muppets in Space". The opening scenes of Jabba's lair were really silly, li

I don't know about that. At least from the view of official builds, DD-WRT has stagnated. The last official release was more than three years ago and the last pre-SP2 release was more than two years ago.

Even the unofficial builds aren't much of an improvement to me. I was using a couple of different builds to get IPv6 functionality and while it worked, I had problems with odd setting resets or services just stopping for no clear reason. Ultimately, I decided to just go with a new DLink router because it provided the functionality that I wanted and pretty much Just Worked. No messing with scripts, no tinkering with poorly-documented settings. It just worked like it was supposed to. (Well, mostly. There's an issue where.11n connectivity breaks, but.11g still works, but that's far less irritating as there's an effective fallback that works.)

I understand the desire to have control over the firmware, as I ran OpenWRT or DD-WRT for several years. I'm also not averse to installing things of questionable stability, as I use Fedora for most of my Linux stations. I enjoyed what I was doing for a while and I learned some things on how the services worked, but it became more of a distraction where I was spending time fixing issues instead of learning other things.

I would no longer make that recommendation. Buffalo has silently started shipping WZR-HP-G300NH2 (version 2) models in the old WZR-HP-G300NH boxes. The G300NH2 models have a different Atheros wireless chip which does not work fine under DD-WRT, and hence with its own custom Buffalo firmware. The end result is constant wireless drop outs (BSSID is broadcasting, client shows as connected, but packets go into la-la land). I have tried two different G300NH2 routers and both have the same issue. Buffalo forum is filled with posts about this issue, and what makes it worse, is that Buffalo U.S.A Tech support has no knowledge of this router (version 2) existing, and say that product is only supported in ASIA. DD-WRT firmwares also can't be flashed into this router as it will brick them.

Disclaimer: I too have a WRT54G(L) router that needs replacement and have already began researching. Going to try Cisco Small Business WRVS4400N-RF due to the number of features it seems to have.

I'm glad I bought mine a year ago, then... even if it did take me some time to figure out why my wireless network would randomly shut off.

Apparently the router will shut off its wireless antennas if it determines another router on a different network is broadcasting on the same channel... and the neighbors were *just* close enough and conditions would be *just* right for that to happen every few days.

I have the WRVS4400N-RF... and my experience is very very mixed with this device. I have to reboot it at least once a month, and configuring it via the web interface isn't as easy as using Cisco IOS' CLI. It also only does 2.4ghz N, so if you want the 5ghz speeds, you'll need either a seperate AP or router running in AP mode. (I actually have a WRT610N in AP mode for my 5ghz needs.)

Is the WZR-HP-G300NH substantially different from the WZR-HP-G300N? I've used several of the latter and while they all seem to work OK (given the correct build of DD-WRT), there are still hardware functions which don't seem to play right (VLAN, for instance).

They are atheros based, so there's the issue of occasional wireless drop-outs that may be fixed in openwrt snapshots (check svn changelog for late November '11), but that's a lot better than the wndr4500 and other broadcom SOC devices that are proprietary and difficult to reverse engineer.

Also, the wndr3700 is hard to brick, and easy to tftp to. There are similar atheros-based devices like the buffalo wzr-hp-g300nh (2.4GHz-only) and ag300nh (2.4 + 5 GHz), but they're harder to flash and maybe have quality control problems on transmit power (some people complain).

With all of these requests and demand you would think someone would sit down and figure out a good set of hardware for this and build specifically for it - completely open and supported! I too have a WRT54G that needs replacing and spotted a cheap dual radio Linksys on BlackFirday sale for $70 that I ordered when I noted the comments stated it worked well with OpenWRT. That will be an interim solution at best.

Honestly I'd even build an Atom PC or something like it to best support this if I could find a dist

Seconded. Bought one for home. Liked it so much, I had work buy one for a terminal server (via USB hub/dongles.) Running OpenWRT. DHCP, iptables, tc, iproute2, ipset, freeradius, strongswan, perl, all available as precompiled packages. Minus getting oriented on the hardware and with a bit of the config file layout, was easy to configure to do everything my old laptop-based router did, while drawing 1/5th the power and making no noise whatsoever.

I have one. It would frequently hang (over WIRED connection) for anywhere from a few mins to 15 minutes, then suddenly start working again. I monkeyed around with settings including disabling the AOSS and WPS stuff, and it stopped hanging. I don't know what specifically fixed it, but I'm using openwrt now so I'll never know. I suspect many of the "omg my wzr-hp-*300* router is broken" stories are just bugs in dd-wrt.

The buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH [buffalotech.com] meets all of these requirements and ships with DD-WRT. However, as the last, very recent thread mentioned DD-WRT is not well maintained anymore. Your best bets are either TomatoUSB [tomatousb.org] or straightforward OpenWRT. I prefer openwrt because it allows simple configuration of hardware taged vlans.

I just put Tomato on my v1.0 WRT54G router and it breathed new life into it. I had previously been running DDWRT. I'm not sure if the submitter can do "option 66" with Tomato but it has everything else.

I've got the WHR-HP-G300N with DD-WRT, and yeah, support has been kind of nonexistent in the last year. That's always been the problem with DD-WRT though, it's kind of half-assed, presumably to create a market for the Pro edition. QoS is still very hit-or-miss.

But if you get the WNDR-4000, first thing you do is update the firmware. The one I got kept toggling the wireless on and off until it snagged a patch. Pretty sure it will phone home the first time you plug it in, but check manually to see.

I don't know about other models, but this one has gotten some bad customer reviews, and NetGear are proactively responding and trying to get those reviewers to update their comments now that things are working cleaner.

I've been a long-time DD-WRT user, but its development seemed to stagnate. I recently put TomatoUSB on my Linksys WRT160N v1, and it is working wonderfully. The interface is much nicer, and exposes more QoS and bandwidth management features which I've found useful.
Check out the TomatoUSB [tomatousb.org] website for a list of routers it supports.

I've been a long-time DD-WRT user, but its development seemed to stagnate.

The last release of TomatoUSB was over a year ago [tomatousb.org]. My own version of DD-WRT dates from about the same time. I don't see how you can hold the former up as making more progress than the latter.

tack onto just general routing ANY QOS stuff, or say a VPN server, or SSH tunneling and my wrt54gs ground to a halt.i have a wndr3700 now and it flies and does everything i want with dd-wrt/open-wrt on it

The only thing done in hardware is generally the LAN switching. All bridging to/from WIFI and all traffic to/from the Internet (WAN port) is via a software path. The technology exists so it could be done in hardware, it just isn't necessary because the software path is fast enough.

As mentioned earlier, things like caching DNS server, QoS, and IPsec are generally done in software, as are things like making USB-connected external drives available as network storage. Often bridging between wired and wireless is done in software as well--my wndr3700 is way, way faster connecting between my wired and wireless networks than my old D-Link was.

I'm going second this recommendation. I've got an RT-16N and it's a pleasure to work with. Between the USB ports, the decent amount of RAM and flash... and the peppy CPU... It's more than one should expect for the price.

3rd for this router. I'm using this as a router + qos + asterisk box for the in-laws. I set them up to have all IP phones connecting to this router and then the router registering with vitelity for phone service. Great setup and saves them a lot of money compared to the bells. The router has 128MB of ram and 32MB of flash so it is one of the most powerful and has the most space for adding stuff than most other routers. I also setup a vpn connection to my house and some custom routing so I can directly access their internal subnet from my computers and diagnose if necessary.

Router is flashed with tomato and then loaded with Optware in order to install asterisk and other addons. Here are some steps to get this done. One side item, the guide for optware has you install it on an external USB drive. But I installed it directly on the/jffs partition so you don't need to add a usb drive. The router has plenty of space to add data to it so I just used this. Also, if you want to do any custom linux commands in tomato, the root os doesn't preserve state after reboot. So be sure to put all the commands you want run in the web gui under administration->scripts. Custom routing commands will need to go there since tomato is limited in the custom routing you can do with the gui (no interface routing? bah)
--Install tomato: http://tomatousb.org/tut:installing-on-asus-rt-n16 [tomatousb.org]
--Install optware: http://tomatousb.org/tut:optware-installation [tomatousb.org]

It is also compatible with Tomato/TomatoUSB. The Asus RT-N16 is a monster with 128 MB RAM and 32 MB flash. That's overkill for most people, but hardcore dorks need that extra RAM and flash for their Optware packages. But OpenVPN works awesomely with TomatoUSB and the Asus RT-N16. If you don't need dozens of concurrent connections, it will probably do the trick for most small businesses.

I finally landed on the Netgear WNDR3700-v2, a nice dual-band atheros box. Got two of them for wireless bridging.

So far I've flashed DD-WRT and OpenWRT without any trouble at all. Though I've historically used WW-DRT and Tomato I'm still torn on which will be permanent. Tomato isn't an option with these due to them not being Broadcom based. I'm leaning strongly to OpenWRT as it seems to be the most mature and flexible of the two.

Personally I have become a fan of the Asus RT-N16. VERY fast, TONS of RAM, USB ports for expansion, runs TomatoUSB and DD-WRT. These have been dead on reliable so far (I have one personally, and we use 4 for remote offices at work). The only negative I can say is that the LED's are extremely bright. You won't need a night-light in your living room with one of these, that's for sure.

Like an Alix Board [netgate.com] and run pfSense on it, with the available packages, there are likely few network related tasks you'll find that pfSense 2.0 on Alix hardware cannot handle. You can also put in whatever wireless card you want, but I prefer to run a dedicated AP. Used Cisco Aironets can be found on Ebay for under $100 and are rock solid.

Just go to eBay and buy some used enterprise equipment dirt cheap. Cisco 2600 (2611 or 2621) or 2800 series routers will do what you want and have the horse power and code base for your needs. There are some good bargains to be had.

I guess they probably won't support DynDNS, but everything else should be covered.

I just love it when someone say, "I'm looking for a motorcycle," and some smart alec says, "What you really need is a pickup," like he knows better than the OP what it is he really wants...

Not sure if serious. The OP said that he wanted a router that he could customize with lots of features - quasi enterprise features. What he's looking to purchase will likely cost $50-$70. The information that I provided can get him enterprise functionality for $50 to whatever he wants to spend.

I used lots of enterprise equipment at home because it's fun, educational, and just because I can.

I've been very happy with TomatoUSB on the E3000. Only $60 refurb, or $70 new from NewEgg ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124419 [newegg.com] ). Simultaneous 2.4/5GHZ g/n, USB port for NAS/Printer, 64MB RAM, gigabit switch. Only has 8MB flash though, if you were planning on storing lots of programs on it (you would want to put those on a USB flash drive anyway, so I don't think internal flash really matters)

Up till recently I would have recommended PacketProtector [packetprotector.org], which has a lot of useful features including Snort, DansGuardian, and ClamAV integration. But both because OpenWRT, which it was based on, has lagged in hardware support and because the main developer's work and Masters are eating up all his time, it's kind of stagnated. If one or two people were to pick up some of the slack it could again be a fantastic solution.

I was thinking about buying Mikrotik, but the lack of OpenVPN UDP support combined with all the problems my friend is having with his & IPv6... I'll stick OpenWRT on one of these: http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wr1043nd [openwrt.org]

You could always set the WRT54GS as a wireless bridge and use pfSense 2.0 on the backend for all of the firewall, DHCP, QoS, RADIUS, etc.

You won't be upgrading to 802.11n support or GigE on the wireless end, but you could certainly use an old PC with GigE NICs in pfSense on the backend.

I currently have an old Dell Dimension 2400 configured with pfsense 2.0 and two WRT54G v.2.2 APs with Tomato in bridged mode and have no performance complaints (other than maybe the 54Mbps limitation of the actual AP)

I have been using linksys E3000/E2000 routers, but recently I have switched to TP-LINK, they are Atheros based and take the usual custom firmwares (DDWRT etc). They are much cheaper than the other brands, the high end model is only $55 (Newegg even had them for less over the weekend) and works much better than my Linksys WRT400n/E3000/E2000 ever did.

I've been running various routers (Linksys, Asus) under DD-WRT or Tomato, but I'm finally just going to bite the bullet, and build a Mini-ITX machine with a flash drive and a wireless AP card. Then I can install a full pop Linux install without all the oddities I've experienced under DD-WRT and its cousins and derivatives. The worst one was a Tomato router that was supposed to run two segregated subnets with one subnet having full access to the other, but not visa-versa, but the iptables script would be ove

whats wrong with x86? just build a cheap x86 box and add whatever components you want. you could even throw untangle [untangle.com] on something. i'm sure you've got an old pc sitting around somewhere, or someone has one you can have.

I've used several routers in the recent past, and every single one of them would bog down to around 100-300kbps when I had a couple hundred peers connected in a torrent. Then I got an Apple Airport Extreme and now I get my full bandwidth of 15mbps with the same load. That sold me.

I have an Airport Extreme (Generation 3) which is supposed to have Gigabit ethernet ports but they never worked - they always connected at 100mbps. I tried everything I could think of - updated firmware, changed network card, changed to Cat6 cable to no avail.

I just got Comcast Digital Voice service which comes with a required SMC cable modem with a built Gigabit router. Plugged it in and gigabit ethernet suddenly worked - it was literally plug and play.

If you have an old PC sitting around, why not use one of the excellent software-based routers out there? pfsense is one of the most popular (given it's BSD based), there's also IPCop, ClarkCounty, etc. There's even some free commercial options like Astaro, who's home-license only limits you to 50 internal IPs (plenty for most people, even by today's standards).

I use Astaro, and used to use pfsense. You get all of the features of a high end enterprise router, basically for free. The only obvious limitation is no built-in wireless, so you just hang an AP off an interface. Astaro offers their software as a VM appliance as well, so then you virtualize it if you so chose (as I do on ESXi 5).

I've used DD-WRT quite a bit, and I'd still personally prefer Astaro or pfsense.

I replaced my old wrt54g and buffalo routers with two of these and flashed with dd-wrt. Can be had for around $30.00 on ebay. Gig ports, N wi-fi. Way more ram for connection tracking than the wrt. Make sure you get the version 2 model. Version 1 will not flash.

While it's a bit more targeted at the "server" market rather than "router" market, the DreamPlug [globalscal...logies.com] does all that you want. It has dual gigabit ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n, a 1.2GHz ARM processor (with a decent crypto co-processor that can handle full duplex gigabit VPN encryption), USB2 and eSATA ports for adding discs, an external SD card port and 4GB of flash inside for the FS. It even has both analogue and SP/DIF audio out in case you want to stream music into your server cupboard. It's very low power too (typically about 10 watts).

I've used Mikrotik Routerboards for years and have been very happy with them. They're very flexible, relatively cheap, and I've not had any issues with reliability. I don't think they run anything like DD-WRT, but their supplied OS is very powerful. Has ssh login for admin and a Cisco IOS like interface.

Probably true -- I use pfsense in my office and I like it a lot. However, I wouldn't discount it for slashdotter home use -- there's a good liklihood the person asking this question has a computer in a closet he hasn't been using -- perfect pfsense platform for the cost of a wireless card, a gigabit nic, and gigabit switch (assuming he doesn't have a few of those laying around as well -- if he does, pfsense just costs the download).

Doubles as a file server and uses only about 60W power! VIA mini + 2 HDs + Intel multi-port nic + boots from flash and almost is the size of a lunchbox. (I couldn't fit the HDs into the lunch box I bought for the project. next time...) An oversized Fanaflow fan and the thing is fairly quiet. Someday I may add a music server since it has audio out and I'm thinking about a bit torrent client (since my desktop uses way more power doing that.) I have a USB wifi nic but haven't bothered t

I have my home server down to 40W @ idle, doing BT, file server, HTPC and more. It has 4 HDDs, 2 are spinning most of the time. I'm using some cheapo mobo with an Intel 2.8 dual core CPU (E5500) and cheapo PSU. All onboard peripherals except one hot-swappable SATA controller. I set up passive CPU cooling with a script to reduce the CPU frequency stepping if it gets too hot. If I had money to throw away, I'd get a fanless PSU and a mesh-faced case, and go with positive pressure passive cooling - just one jum

Or at that point, just go all out and pick a BSD distro if spare hardware is on hand. Although beware that the OpenBSD version of pf has diverged slightly, so the syntax is going to be a little bit different going with anything past 4.6 IIRC. Supposedly NetBSD has the fastest IP stack of them all though, and should probably have the more classic pf.

And if anyone feels the need to chime in about iptables here, I don't care what extra useless features it has, pf is much easier to use.

Pretty sure he's just clarifying that he needs hardware with more processing power. MIPS for the geeky geeks, horsepower for the casual geek. Take your pick. But i'm pretty sure he's not looking for a router w/ a pull-start lawnmower style.

It's a tradeoff metric. If you want it to go faster on the freeway you may have to give up some integer-processing performance. A unit with more MIPS/horsepower would let you get more of either or both.